Support for Women's Empowerment Project

 
London Hyde Park Donates $250 to Women in Rotary's Empowerment Project
Michele Parkin, pictured above with Club Secretary Kevin Webb, display the Certificate of thanks presented to Michele as our speaker.  Our club also presented Michele with a cheque for $250 towards the Women in Rotary's Empowerment Project.  Michele's Powerpoint presentation is posted in the download section of the home page.
 
 
 
President Lillian; Michele Parkin; and, Barb Robins
Women in Rotary is an informal group of women from various Rotary Clubs in London, Ontario and area.  They gather for fellowship and to harness the power of each other and the respective clubs and networks in serving the London and global communities.
 
The Empowerment Project seeks to reduce poverty and illiteracy by leveraging the power of micro-finance in developing countries.  Through micro-lending, donors help women feed , clothe and educate their families by enabling them to start or expand small businesses, using their special skills in their communities.  Micro-lenders provide loans where banks and credit unions will not.  They also provide business skill support and insurance against business risk.  Typical micro-loan repayment rates are approximately 95-98%.  Some studies show the impact of micro-lending goes beyond economic, and women recipients improve their skills, self-confidence, community visibility and decision-making power.
 
Currently, the Women in Rotary Empowerment Project is seeking to raise $5,000 with these funds being matched by the Rotary club of London for a total of $10,000 to support the empowerment of women entrepreneurs. 
  • A portion of these funds will be directed through a reputable Micro-Finance Institution in Honduras called El Instituto para el Desarrollo Hondureno (IDH) in Danli, Honduras; a community where the Rotary club of London has for several helped support the education of children whose families either live & survive in the municipal dump or work tirelessly at the market.  The funds will support these women in entrepreneurship so they can afford to purchase schools supplies and uniforms for their children.  Even though education is free in Honduras families children must have uniforms and supplies before going to school.
  • The balance of these funds will be directed to Kiva.org, a long-standing reputable conduit for the disbursement of micro-funds around the world.  Kiva i a US based online micro-fund facilitator working with micro-lenders around the world and recently received Charity Navigator’s highest award.  It has a 98.64% loan repayment rate and issues a loan every 10 seconds.  During the week of July 5 - 11, 2015 Kiva loaned US$1,966,575 to 4,718 borrowers contributed by 12,255 lenders.
To donate by Cheque:
Please make the cheques payable to "The Rotary Club of London Foundation" and indicate the cheque is for the Danli Micro-fund.
Mail the cheque to:

The Rotary Club of London
Attn:  Sandy Ronson
P.O. Box 29056
London, ON
N6K 4L9

Email:  sandyr@bell.net

To donate online by credit card:

Go to the Rotary Club of London Foundation's CanadaHelps webpage at: http://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?CharityID=s88907  

Indicate in the message box that the donation is for the Danli Micro-fund.